Raping Arizona… Part 2 – SB1070

Yesterday we introduced you to what life is REALLY like on the southern border and it’s not what Janet Napolitano and John McCain would have you believe. Arizona is being invaded by a criminal class and the pro-amnesty crowd is ignoring it and lying about it.

Today, I’m going to talk about SB1070, the state’s immigration law that drove President Obama and the open borders folks to distraction. As a reminder, this is a series and upcoming installments will include…

Drug and immigration cartels.

The Fence.

The Numbers. How many illegals are here and how many are coming across.

What is the Border Patrol doing and how effective are they?

How to stop the flow.

Gang of Eight Immigration Legislation, good or bad?

SB1070 created lots of controversy in Arizona’s effort to fight illegal immigration. We got sued by all the usual suspects, lost in Federal Court, lost in the Ninth Circus and won in the Supreme Court. The most controversial parts of the law included what opponents called “show me your papers” and a requirement that business use eVerify to verify that new employees are eligible to be hired.

Our Governor, Jan Brewer, has gotten plaudits around the country from conservatives for SB1070. Let me be clear about this. Jan Brewer is a political hack, she had nothing to do with writing SB1070, did not support it or comment on it as it made its way through the legislature and nobody knew if she would sign it or veto it after it passed. She waited until the last day to sign, walked out on a stage and at least half the state – the conservative part – was shocked when she signed it.

It was a purely a survival move. She had taken office when Janet Napolitano went to Washington and was in a four way reelection fight, she was running third and falling. Her handlers played the game well. Brewer read her lines very well, even stood up to Obama (although I think that was to sell more books – she’d just self-published an ebook that went through the roof after her airport confrontation with the President) and walked to an easy win in the primary and general election. Again, Jan Brewer is a hack.

With respect to SB1070, I’ve been an opponent of it since day one. I thought it targeted the wrong people, would create unnecessary dust-ups, like the litigation process we were tied up in for years, and would end up being ineffective. I was right.

The point of SB1070 was never to enforce immigration law, it was to create a hostile environment so illegals would get out of Arizona and head for friendlier climes, like California. They are bankrupting our state, California doesn’t seem to mind bankrupting theirs so there was hope SB1070 would give illegals the incentive to leave the state. It did work for a little while, but eventually everything bogged down. It’s expensive to administrate and the Feds didn’t want to take the illegal we were arresting.

First of all, the “show me your papers” part of the law. In the world of stupid, that was king. The State of Arizona has had a law on the books for decades that required every citizen to have a state issued photo ID on their person at all times. It’s a misdemeanor and you are subject to arrest if you don’t have one when asked to identify yourself by a police officer. All this section did, according to dozens of police officers I spoke with, was effectively put a lawyer in car with them every time they asked someone for ID. It added nothing to their ability to do their job, took about zero additional illegals off the street and created a firestorm in the process.

The good part of the law was the eVerify requirement. Businesses hated it and campaigned against it. Even though it made the final cut, the law is toothless and doesn’t provide enough punishment for ignoring it.

eVerify is a great solution. It’s 98% accurate, it’s free assuming you have an internet connection and it takes less than a minute. It’s similar to the requirement for an I9 form that all businesses are required to collect on new hires, but it accesses the Social Security database and verifies that the employee is who he or she says they are.

SB1070 could have worked had the legislature found a spine. The solution is simple and basically ignores the illegals.

First, require eVerify for every employee. SB1070 gave a pass to existing employees and that is an open admission by the business lobby that they’ve got illegals on their payrolls.

Second, extend the eVerify requirement to rental housing. Require that landlords or their agents have an eVerify result on every tenant in a rental property.

Third, make enforcement worthwhile and make compliance a matter of life and death.

The state would audit businesses and rental properties on a routine basis. The business would be required to provide proof that they have eVerify forms for every employee or tenant. If an employee or tenant is found to be an illegal alien, the eVerify form is an affirmative defense.

If they do not have the form it’s an automatic fine of $1,000 per missing form. If the employee or tenant is found to be an illegal, the fine jumps to $20,000 and the business owner/landlord/property manager is charged with a felony. The fine is not dischargeable in bankruptcy and if the business is unable to pay the fine it attaches to the owners. The felony charge is not able to be reduced.

The fines are large enough that the state will aggressively pursue enforcement of the law and it won’t tie up police to enforce it. Accountants will work just fine and they’re cheaper than cops. In addition, the businesses that are most prone to hiring illegals are construction and hospitality. You can’t get a business or liquor license in Arizona with a felony conviction. Now you’ve got incentive for the businesses to follow the law.

Obviously this isn’t going to happen. In the current legislation before the Senate the eVerify system is being scrapped and replaced with an new and undefined system and businesses have 10 years to implement it. Get the idea?

We need to tell Congress that the Gang of Eight is wrong. This current bill is amnesty for millions of lawbreakers, has no enforcement provisions that will be implemented and asks us to trust the same government that’s refused to secure the border for the past twenty years.

About Author

Michael Becker is a long time activist and a businessman. He's been involved in the pro-life movement since 1976 and has been counseling addicts and ministering to prison inmates since 1980.
Becker is a Curmudgeon. He has decades of experience as an operations executive in turnaround situations and in mortgage banking. He blogs regularly at The Right Curmudgeon, The Minority Report, Wizbang, Unified Patriots and Joe for America. He lives in Phoenix and is almost always armed.

In 2008 my life changed when Barack Obama came into my front yard on a campaign stop. I asked him why he wanted to raise taxes, and he said that he wanted to “spread the wealth.” Since then, I have gained a national following as “Joe the Plumber” and now travel the country speaking and encouraging other everyday folks to get involved in the political process.